Master of Science in Marketing

Haslam Master’s in Marketing. A Degree Program Designed by Marketers for Marketers.

Are you passionate about making people fall in love with brands while creating solutions that satisfy customer needs? Are you a high-achieving creative? This is the degree for you.

Our MS in Marketing program combines creativity with data-driven problem solving to move you — and your career — forward on the path to possibility.

Duration: 10 months (Full-time 32-credit-hour program)

Location: Knoxville, Tennessee

Start Date: July 2023

Future-Focused Curriculum

Our carefully constructed, industry focused curriculum helps students develop competency in the marketing skills of tomorrow, including: data-driven marketing decision making, marketing analytics and research, digital and social media marketing, customer and brand management, strategy formulation and technology-enhanced marketing.

Support for Student Success

Through personalized advising, coursework focused on career planning and professional development, along with a mentorship roundtable, students develop critical skills and professional connections necessary for success in the program and throughout their careers.

Real-World Engagement

The program familiarizes students with challenges and opportunities in the marketing landscape through industry partnerships that bring real-world problems into the classroom. A “Future of Marketing” speaker series brings trend-setting thought leaders straight to students.

Your Marketing Career Impact

This Master in Marketing program accelerates your progression toward a marketing management career. A sound financial investment, median wages across the nation are 28.6 percent higher for employees with a graduate degree in marketing compared to bachelor’s degree holders. Demand for marketing talent with advanced skills is also projected to average double-digit growth from 2018 to 2028, which implies exciting career opportunities for individuals with graduate degrees in the field.

What You’ll Learn in Our Grad Program

Today’s marketers must be proficient in digital and social business strategies and the use of emerging technologies to maximize customer engagement. Our specialized master’s program combines creativity with data-driven problem solving through coursework, cases, guest speakers, networking events and experiential learning opportunities that teach you the skills necessary to stand out in today’s marketplace.

Marketing Degree Curriculum

Total Program Hours – 32

MARK 503 (3 credits) Marketing Strategy

This course provides students with an introduction to the foundational concepts, frameworks, theories, and analytical tools that underlie contemporary marketing practice. Students gain an appreciation for the critical role that marketing plays in creating, communicating and delivering value for customers, and capturing value for the firm.

MARK 538 (3 credits) Quantitative Marketing Insights

This course provides students with the skills necessary to generate marketing insights using a cutting-edge quantitative research toolkit. Emphasis is placed on learning to identify the data and tools most appropriate for generating insights needed to develop, support, and defend strategic recommendations.

MARK 599 (1 credit) Career Planning and Professional Development

This course guides students through the process of setting career goals and developing strategies for achieving them. As part of this process, students are encouraged to reflect on their own strengths, values and interests to ensure that chosen career goals are conducive to a fulfilling work life.

MARK 536 (3 credits) Qualitative Marketing Insights

This course provides students with the skills necessary to generate marketing insights using a state-of-the art qualitative research toolkit. Students gain an appreciation for how qualitative insights can be used to inform strategic decisions within an organization.

MARK 504 (3 credits) Contemporary Consumer Behavior

This course enhances student understanding of behavioral theories rooted in psychology, sociology and economics that are used to explain and predict contemporary consumer behavior. Emphasis is placed on how these theories can be used to create novel marketing strategies to capture consumer attention, change consumer mindsets and shape consumer behavior in an ever-changing marketplace.

MARK 534 (3 credits) Data Visualization and Storytelling

This course provides students with an introduction to the fundamentals of effective data-driven storytelling. Students learn how to leverage data visualization tools to unearth and communicate, to diverse audiences, the stories hidden within data. Various data sources relevant to marketing decision-making are considered, with emphasis given to data originating from digital touchpoints.

MARK 542 (3 credits) Marketing Innovations

This course introduces students to novel practices and technologies that are reshaping the marketing field. Students learn how emerging marketing innovations can be leveraged in pursuit of business objectives. Topics covered vary depending on the pace of innovation within the marketing discipline.

MARK 598 (1 credit) Special Topics in Marketing

This course exposes students to one or more special topics related to the practice of marketing. Students gain an appreciation for how marketing activities and decisions explored in the course contribute to organizational goals and effectiveness.

MARK 541 (3 credits) Managing Digital Marketing Campaigns

This course provides students with the skills needed to effectively plan, develop, manage and optimize digital marketing campaigns. Topics such as establishing objectives, media and audience selection, and creative strategy are covered. The course focuses on how digital marketing campaigns can be used to achieve different marketing goals (e.g., awareness, performance and reputation management) using state-of-the-art practices. Students are introduced to campaign analytics and marketing automation tools.

MARK 543 (3 credits) Professional Selling for Marketers

This course provides students with an appreciation for and understanding of the sales function within an organization. The course emphasizes the marketing-sales interface, with particular attention given to approaches that can be used to enhance marketing-sales collaboration to achieve breakthrough business results. Selling of ideas internally and multifunctional roles within business teams are also discussed.

MARK 544 (3 credits) Insights-Driven Innovation

This course provides students with an understanding of how to leverage marketing insights to effectively develop and launch new products that contribute to organizational growth and success. Marketing insight tools necessary to master the different phases of the new product development process (e.g., idea generation, screening and brand positioning) are given special consideration.

MARK 550 (3 credits) Client-Based Consulting Project

This course challenges students to step into the role of a consultant and engage with a for-profit or non-profit client to address a marketing issue of strategic importance to the organization. Clients are assigned to students and chosen based on the extent to which the strategic issue they face allows students to apply and refine the core theoretical and analytical skills emphasized throughout the program.

Admissions

Admissions Process

We employ a flexible admissions process that relies on a variety of factors to make a holistic assessment of each applicant’s fit and likely success in our program. Our selection process is designed to ensure we deliver a rigorous program, provide opportunities to applicants from diverse educational, professional and personal backgrounds, and do not exclude qualified applicants based on rigid (e.g., GPA and standardized) selection criteria.

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Requirements for Consideration for Admissibility

Application for the MS in Marketing must be submitted through the Haslam College of Business Graduate School. In addition, as explained in the table below, program admission requirements vary as a function of students’ educational and professional backgrounds. All required admission information must be provided for an application to be forwarded to the program.

Applicant	Undergraduate Business Degree Holders	Undergraduate Business Degree Holders	Non-Business Degree Holders
*Admission Criterion*	Haslam College of Business Graduates	Non-Haslam College of Business Graduates	UTK and non-UTK Graduates
Minimum Graduate School GPA for U.S. degree holders	2.7 out of 4.0	2.7 out of 4.0	2.7 out of 4.0
Minimum Graduate School GPA for non-U.S. degree holders	3.0 out of 4.0	3.0 out of 4.0	3.0 out of 4.0
GMAT or GRE	Not required	May be required¹	May be required¹
TOEFL or IELTS	Not required	Required of international applicants (exceptions apply)	Required of international applicants (exceptions apply)
Recommendation letters	Required: 3 letters of recommendation, including one from a marketing faculty member at an AACSB-accredited college of business.	Required: 3 letters of recommendation, including one from a marketing faculty member at an AACSB-accredited college of business.	Required: 3 letters of recommendation, including one from a marketing faculty member at an AACSB-accredited college of business.
Pre-enrollment coursework	²An average GPA in all Marketing courses of a 3.0 or better	²Intro to Marketing and Intro to Statistics with a C or better CBMR Certification	²Intro to Marketing, Consumer Behavior, Marketing Research, Intro to Statistics with a C or better
Interview	30-minute interview required	30-minute interview required	30-minute interview required
Application fee	$60	$60	$60

¹GRE/GMAT tests are not required for Haslam Undergraduate Marketing students; however, it is preferred that non-marketing degree holders submit an exam score.
² All undergraduate degrees are accepted; however, students must have taken the pre-enrollment coursework to be considered for admissibility. Pre-enrollment coursework includes Intro to Marketing, Consumer Behavior, Marketing Research, Intro to Statistics or an equivalent with a C or better.

Tuition & Financial Aid

ESTIMATED PROGRAM COST (for students entering Summer 2023)

In-State: $25,892*
Out-of-State: $51,478*

*You can find an up-to-date schedule of tuition and fees for in- and out-of-state students on One Stop Student Services’ website. The tuition and fees listed do not include room, board, books and supplies or other living expenses.

Financial Aid

A small number of scholarship and teaching assistant opportunities are available to well-qualified students based on need and merit. To express your interest in financial assistance, please complete and submit this supplemental application at the same time you apply for admission to the MS in Marketing program through the University of Tennessee Graduate School.

Funding

Our admitted applicants are automatically considered for merit-based program-funded graduate assistantships and scholarships. Assistantships and scholarships are highly competitive and not all applicants receive funding opportunities. The graduate assistantships include a tuition fee waiver and a stipend for the semester awarded.No additional application is necessary for financial consideration. However, you can apply for graduate assistantships that are outside of the MSBA program; our graduate school has a website where you can see openings for graduate assistantships that different departments and colleges post.

Expert Faculty — Leaders in the Field

Courses in the MS in Marketing program are taught by Haslam’s award-winning marketing faculty who hold doctorates in the field and are subject matter experts in a variety of content and methodological areas. To learn more about the faculty members who will be teaching in the program in 2022-23, please visit the marketing department faculty directory.